Life

"Iron Couple" Bill and Pat McQuade Take on Kona

Triathlon has challenged, healed, and united this couple, and they'll celebrate their mutual love for the sport on Saturday.

by John Post

There is no better example of the "Anything is Possible" IRONMAN mantra than Pat and Bill McQuade, the "Iron Couple."

Bill McQuade was a career Navy man and an athlete from way back. He dabbled in triathlons with the couple's son about 30 years ago. His interest in the sport grew from 5 and 10k's to marathons, and he improved his performances steadily.

Unexpectedly, Bill's sporting life came to a screeching halt about 20 years ago when, following arthroscopic meniscus surgery on his knee, the Navy doctor told him that his long distance running career was over. A terrific blow to an athlete, who, just like you and me, has a good deal of his personality and self-identification tied up in his running. Non-athletes might have trouble comprehending this, but for the street-wise triathlete, fast or slow, young or old, male or female, the message is clear: When you get cut from the sport, you can’t chew the leather, you’re no longer part of the gang. Or in more practical terms, you can’t meet the guys/girls for a long run on Saturday morning then congenial coffee at the local coffee house when you’ve been "grounded" by the doc. Your wings have been clipped.

Pat McQuade, "never athletic growing up or during my child rearing years," had a huge left turn in life about 20 years ago: breast cancer. She beat it medically, but not without the consistent, patient, ever-present help of her caring husband. He virtually rescued her from the disease that threatened her existence. Once they got rid of the cancer, Pat said she needed a new goal, "something to get her back up off the mat."

Pat is a "kill two birds with one stone" type. She also thought she just might have seen a way to get Bill back into the sport he loved so. "I sort of conned him into running with me, just a little at first. He needed running back in his life and I wanted a new goal in mine," she recalls.

The couple's runs around the block and 5k's became marathons. Recreational cycling was added to the mix, and once they became empty nesters, Pat, almost on a whim, signed up for a triathlon. Not just the sprint down the street mind you, but IRONMAN 70.3 Vineman (now Santa Rosa). Bill played Sherpa. That pathway led her to the 2007 edition of IROMAN Wisconsin, but her string of successes was smashed when she missed the bike cut off.

"I could have taken a ride back to my stuff but I was so teed off I rode my bike back that 10 miles," she says of the experience. With the morning sun came the opening to sign up for this same event the following year. In a move she didn’t see coming, Bill was first out of bed and dressed, clean shaven for the first time in years, with a twinkle in his eye. They both signed up for the 2008 race, and the rest history.

The rest being 12 IRONMAN finishes, qualifying them for the Kona Legacy program.

The McQuades are bringing a gang of 16 friends and family with them to Hawaii this year. "The pressure is really on us to finish!" Bill says. But if the Navy taught Bill anything, it taught him to be prepared. The two came to the Big Island in June and raced the IRONMAN 70.3 Honu to get a feel for triathlon Hawaii-style, and they seem to have realistic expectations for the race on Saturday.

Bill sports a personally designed IRONMAN tattoo which he says means a lot to him. When he add Kona to his list of finishes, he knows exactly how he’ll upgrade the tat: "Funny, even though I was in the Navy for over 20 years, unlike so many others, I was never tattooed. Only for IRONMAN. When I finish Kona, the tat will get a little extra aloha."

John Post is a six-time IRONMAN World Championship finisher and an IRONMAN Certified Coach.